


Stay by My Side

by HowliteandRoses



Series: Post-episode 13 (main storyline) [2]
Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Feelings, First Kiss, Getting Together, Hannibal Lecter Loves Will Graham, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Episode: s03e13 The Wrath of the Lamb, Post-Fall, Will Graham Loves Hannibal Lecter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:13:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29218533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HowliteandRoses/pseuds/HowliteandRoses
Summary: Will walked into a silent house with his head full of regrets. This can't end this way, he needs to get Hannibal back.(I highly recommend reading part 1 before.)
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Series: Post-episode 13 (main storyline) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2144700
Comments: 8
Kudos: 44





	Stay by My Side

_The house is under your name. Sell it if you must._

_This is only thing I can think that could help you start over._

_Please keep on surviving._

_Yours truly,_

_Hannibal Lecter_

Will’s knees hit the ground. He had left as well. Hannibal was gone. All because of him. Sitting back against the bed Will let the tears he was holding fall freely. He stayed right there for what felt like hours before weakly climbing on the bed and laying down.

Hannibal knew he wanted to leave but why leave too? Why give him the house and enough money to get back home when Will had just up and leave? Why would Hannibal leave? What did he take with him?

Will stood up as strength came back into his body. He started searching around the rooms looking for anything missing. He just needed a way to contact him. Had he left with his phone?

“Please have it with you…” Will mumbled before taking is own phone and calling the older man’s number.

It rang once, twice, then…

“Will?”

Will had never felt happier to hear that voice. Holding the phone closer he gave a reply.

“Yeah, where are you?” he whispered.

“Don’t worry about me.”

“No, wait!” Will nearly screamed. “I… I was wrong. Please come back.”

“Is it to finish the job? I’d rather not. Goodbye, Will.”

“No! Listen to me! I don’t want you dead… I don’t… Hannibal… don’t leave me.”

The line was shut, and Will was screaming. He had screwed up. Hannibal was not coming back. He had gone too far. Throwing the phone at the wall Will screamed as loud as he could. Kicking and punching everything he could touch he ended up on the floor his knees held against him.

…

The walk back was long and tiring. Hannibal had already walked for about an hour and a half and with his bad leg he was wondering if he would even make it back the same day. Clutching his phone in his hand, he held on and tried to walk faster. Did Will not want to leave anymore? Will wanted to stay, with him? He couldn’t give up now. Gathering all the strength he had he painfully walked back to the house.

The car was parked in front of the house as if it had never moved. The lights were off, and not a sound could be heard. If Will’s last wish before leaving was to end Hannibal’s life, he’d be ready. He would fight until his last breath if Will wanted him to. This was the last standing. Hannibal opened the door and nearly jumped.

The sight in front of him was heart wrenching. Will was laying down on the floor shards of glass stuck into the skin of his hands, his face red and swollen, a broken phone close by and several destroyed furniture items and broken lamps. Hannibal rushed to his side.

“Will… I’m sorry.”

…

Slowly gaining consciousness again Will tried to open his eyes. His head hurt as well as his hands. What the hell happened to him? He moved slightly enough to figure out he was in bed and that the blankets were extremely soft. It was so comfortable he could just go back to sleep. Why was he hurting though? He had left the house in the morning and had taken the car. Was he back in Wolf Trap? Well, he wasn’t in the car anymore and his bed had never felt this comfy. Did he lose time again? Opening his eyes completely, Will took a look at the window on his side. Morning again. Ah yeah, he had come back. Yesterday’s events were coming back to him slowly until the moment he remembered the last piece of detail.

“Hannibal…” he whispered in a sad voice full of regrets.

His hands were hurting because of everything he had tried to break. He looked down at them only to noticed what he should have noticed the very first moment he woke up. There he was, sitting in the chair he usually sat in hunched over with his head on the bed and Will’s right bandaged hand in his. Hannibal Lecter was right in front of him. Will exhaled loudly while tightening his grip on Hannibal’s hand. The older man slowly woke up only to look up at Will with an expression the younger at never seen on the man.

“You came back,” Will mumbled.

Hannibal nodded slowly.

“I came back,” Will continued.

Another nod.

“Are you hungry?” Hannibal asked after a moment.

Will laughed. He laughed and laughed until he started sobbing. His whole body was shaking. It took a moment, but Will nodded. 

“Yeah… I’m hungry. Think I can help?” he said carefully.

“You don’t have to, yesterday was not one of our best you should rest a bit more. I’ll make breakfast.”

“Right… ok.”

With that Hannibal left the room and Will let his head hit the pillow. Watching Hannibal leave he could see his leg was even worst than before and it made him winced. This was all his fault. All of it. Hannibal had been nothing but kind to him since the fall and this is how Will had repaid him. Yet Hannibal was so ready for him to take off that he hadn’t even questioned it.

_The house is under your name. Sell it if you must._

He was ready for Will to leave. He had already accepted it.

_Is it to finish the job? I’d rather not._

That would have been the logical reason after all. Will coming back to the house only to finish what he had started. Hannibal wasn’t at full strength he could be beaten. An angry Will who just wanted to start his life over could have easily kill him and Hannibal knew that. Was it why he had leave as well? Scared that Will would come back. Little did he know that of all the thoughts that had crossed Will’s mind since that morning, killing Hannibal had never been one. He would have just let Hannibal live his own life like before the two knew each other. As if that was possible. They were drawn to one another. Two side of the same coin. He wouldn’t even had been able to stay away. Will could see that now. The two of them couldn’t live apart.

Now that they were both back, how would each of them react? All of this could still be some sort of manipulation, Hannibal could still be pulling the strings. Could Will really trust him again? After everything? And for Hannibal, who thought Will’s only wish was to see him dead, would he put back on his person suit? Would he go back to wanted Will gone? Were they going to fight each other until the very end? Will didn’t want that. He had taken too long to realize but he wanted Hannibal by his side. And now another teacup had been shattered.

“Breakfast’s ready.”

Will nodded before standing up and following the older man inside the kitchen. The house was small, the entrance door leading straight to the living room and dining room combined, the kitchen could be seen from the couch. Down the corridor was the bathroom with each of their bedroom on either side.

Sitting down at the table Will dug into his breakfast like he was starving. The two ate without saying a word. Only once the dishes were clean and out of sight did Will speak up.

“After the dragon I didn’t know what to do. All of me wanted to give in, but the small rational part of me left kept telling me that we were monsters that needed to be stopped,” Will started.

“Which is why you tried to kill us.”

“At the time I didn’t thought of it that way, I just didn’t want to choose… between good and evil, you and the FBI.”

“You let the ocean decide,” Hannibal sighed as he sat down in front of Will.

“I tried to. But when I woke up and saw we hadn’t been killed only severely injured I got so angry. In the end I couldn’t even kill us properly.”

“You said you didn’t want to choose but your decision had already been made at that point.”

Will nodded. “I decided that once I was strong enough, I would leave. After the first day it never crossed my mind to kill you, or to get the FBI or anything like that. I didn’t want to take your freedom from you I just… didn’t want you around.”

“What changed?”

“I realized something… I don’t quite understand it, but it… it makes some sense,” Will said looking down at his hands. “I asked Bedelia if you were in love with me. It feels like a lifetime ago but… I had just brushed it off. How could you love me? After everything you’ve done to me, after everything I’ve done to you. That’s the thing I still don’t understand but I want to believe that you weren’t manipulating me again. I want to believe that you took care of me just because you wanted to and not because of some ulterior motive. I want to believe that the man I saw was the real you and not just an image.”

Will looked up slowly to see that Hannibal had his head lowered. Will couldn’t see his expression. It worried him.

“Hannibal?”

“It took a long while to accept what I was feeling for you, Will, but when I realized I also realized that this could compromise everything that I am. As long as you were in the picture, I was at risk. I don’t regret a lot of thing in my life, but I do regret hurting you the way I did. In this new life I wanted to make sure you were alright. Whatever you decided to do, it was fine if you would be safe. I didn’t want you to think this was a plan. I wasn’t trying to make you do anything. Seems like I failed. In the end it pushed you away.”

Shaking his head Will stood up and walked next to Hannibal. He placed his left hand on top of Hannibal’s and waited for the man to look at him.

“You took off your ring,” Hannibal said looking down at their hands.

“I’m not leaving you anymore… and I’d like to start this over. It might be hard to start trusting each other again but I want to try… with you by my side,” Will whispered tightening his hand.

Hannibal stood before placing a hand on Will’s cheekbone. The other leaned into the touch and closed his eyes, realizing how good it felt. Hannibal pulled him closer into a warm embrace. Will held onto him tightly, pouring every emotion he felt into it.

_This is all I ever wanted for you, Will. For both of us._

Tears started falling freely on Will’s face as his body started shaking slightly.

“Whatever happens… promise me you won’t let me leave again,” the younger man mumbled into Hannibal’s chest.

Hannibal’s hand rubbed small circles on Will’s back as he lowered his head to lay a kiss in his hair.

“I promise, mano meilė,” Hannibal whispered.

Will looked up slightly. “What does that mean? The last part.”

“My love,” Hannibal replied tensing up a small bit.

Will gave him a small smile before closing the distance between them. Hannibal closed his eyes and tried to relay every feeling he ever felt for Will into the kiss. The smaller man was the one to pull away first.

“I’m sorry for leaving. I should have realized sooner,” Will whispered.

The world had stop spinning and time had slowed down, there was only them left. Only them against the rest of the world.

“I love you,” Will finally whispered as the two joined again into their second kiss.

They would be alright as long as they were together.

**Author's Note:**

> And there you have it! I hope this turned out alright. Thanks for reading anyway!


End file.
